SC Dismisses Telangana Plea Over 42% OBC Quota In Local Polls
Earlier Telangana High Court stayed the government orders which enhanced the OBC quota in seats in municipalities and panchayats to 42%.
By Sumit Saxena
Published : October 16, 2025 at 1:32 PM IST
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea by the Telangana government against the state High Court’s decision to stay government orders which enhanced the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota in seats in municipalities and panchayats to 42%.
The matter came up before a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. “Dismissed”, said the bench after hearing submissions from senior advocate A M Singhvi, who represented the state government before the bench.
Singhvi urged the bench to indicate that it does not affect the matter listed before the High Court. The bench agreed and said that the dismissal of the special leave petition before it will not affect the High Court in deciding the pending writ petition on its own merits.
"You may continue with your elections… (state's appeal) dismissed. The order shall not affect the High Court in deciding the case on its own merits," said the apex court.
During the hearing, Singhvi argued that there is no rigid 50 per cent rule set by the apex court when it comes to reservations, as cited in the interim order by the High Court. It was argued that there is a misconception that the ruling by the apex court in the Indra Sawhney case (1992) established a rigid 50 per cent cap on reservations for backward classes in all cases.
The bench observed that the Gawali judgment did not allow reservations to exceed 50%. Singhvi said it is a policy decision, and a unanimous resolution of all parties supports it. “Why did you have to bring out a government order to implement what you have sought by your exercise…Gawali (judgment) says nothing beyond 50%,” said the bench, adding that even consideration of empirical data does not allow the government to go beyond 50% reservation.
It was argued before the bench that the analysis of empirical evidence indicates that the backward classes continue to remain relatively lagging.
Singhvi contended that if the court were to hold that there is an absolute 50 per cent cap on reservation, then what is to be done in a state where the OBC population exceeds 70 per cent?
Singhvi urged the bench to entertain the larger issue of whether the 50 per cent ceiling can be exceeded. He said otherwise, your Lordships may be laying down an inflexible rule of 50 per cent for the entire country.
Singhvi contended that the judgment allows this ceiling to be breached in exceptional circumstances. However, Singhvi could not convince the apex court to secure a favourable order.
On October 9, the Telangana High Court issued an interim stay order against a Government Order providing 42 per cent BC reservation in local body polls. The court directed the State Election Commission to notify the proportionate seats as open category seats and proceed with the elections.
The court stayed GO no 9, and consequential Government Orders no 41 and 42 in this regard. Following the court's stay order, the Telangana State Election Commission issued a statement saying the poll notification was issued on September 29 and further activities are being suspended until further notification.
The court further said that any quota increase for OBCs should be within the framework of the "triple test", a framework for providing reservations for OBCs in local body elections. The triple test for OBC quota hike stipulates that states form a commission to collect data, specify the reservation proportion based on the commission's findings, and ensure the total reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs does not exceed 50 per cent of the total seats.
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